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The Story So Far
The Serpentine Cult Arc In the metropolitan city of Skyhill, three travelers meet in a tavern at dusk. Their only source being a mysterious letter and a dagger sunk into the centre of one of the taverns table, a sign that business was to be discussed. Moreta Tillek, a huntress of Woodspell. Aurelius Karth, a freedom fighter and ale lover from the Western Isles. Saendithis, a brooding rogue from the Northern Continent. The three met with Civil, right hand to the regent himself, and were tasked with hunting down and gathering information on the Band of the Serpent, a small cult dedicated to the ancient serpentine spirit of rebirth. The party, disguised as guards of a trade caravan, infiltrated the capital city Gelden and discovered the whereabouts of the cults base of operation, the abandoned keep of the Westwell family. During the assault of Westwell keep the party found the barbarian known as Rorthak bound in chains in the basement and after freeing him the new party of four put an end to the cult and took Westwell keep for themselves. During the clearing of the bodies, the party found a mysterious artifact,, a necklace shaped as a bound skeleton. Aurelius took this artifact and returned to Civil to hand it over and collect their reward. Aurelius however was betrayed and left to die on the streets of Skyhill, fortunately a travelling troupe of actors and minstrels came across him and nursed him back to health on their journey back towards Gelden. The Restoration of Westwell & Jolly Adventuring Shortly after the return of Aurelius, the party sought the lawyer Vincent Leerstrom and his associate Skidner O'Brownlin to procure Westwell keep for themselves legally. Vincent obliged in return for a favor, he was to use the keep as his base of operations and temporary home as he feared repercussion from the crown for his constant representation of people being persecuted in it's name. After the keep was signed over, the young man Oliver (a surviving member of the Band of the Serpent) was tasked with using his limited knowledge of stone-masonry to restore the keep to a decent condition, during this time the party cleared out the network of caves behind the keep and discovered walking corpses tainted by blood magic, the bodies were burned and the caves were collapsed as a precaution. The party also met with the enchanter Golarion at Ashvale Tower to discern the nature of the behelit, a key to communing with ancient entities. Saendithias saw something in Golarion during the meeting and after a brief altercation left him unconscious on the floor of his study and raided his personal collection as they fled Ashvale. The Liberation of Woodspell Arc Shortly after this, Vincent confided in Moreta that he didn't only know her name and her history but was in fact the one who signed the court writ allowing the supplanting of Woodspell from it's previous ruling family to Lord and Lady Endell, the results of which lead to the death of her family along with the other other servants, staff and guards of Woodspell Manor. With a vow of revenge, the party were to set of for Woodspell at first light, but before they could leave they were interrupted by a banging at the front door of their keep. Outside was the lady Helga, a foreigner of unknown origin who had become lost in the woods nearby and sought shelter and a kitchen for the preparation of her freshly caught game. After seeing her skills with a knife and experiencing the range of her culinary skills the party invited Helga along to Woodspell to assist with their plot and the party of four became a party of five. The party then set off leaving Saendithias to catch up after he had performed a task for Vincent and made it to Woodspell where they encountered some uncomfortable happenings. The entirety of Woodspell was under curfew, and people would regularly go missing for dissenting opinions of the Endell family. When Saendithias caught up with the party, a stealth operation was carried out in an attempt to receive information and the disturbing practices of the Endell family were discovered, incest between their daughter and as yet unidentified child was a common occurrence and letters addressed to both Civil and Golarion were found in the study of the manor. The party was then to spring a trap: infiltrate the upcoming nobleman's ball, isolate the Endell family and Civil and put an end to their dealings and their lives. The party encountered their quarrel in a crypt beneath the manor and after a hard fought battle against their potent sorceries emerged victorious, also retrieving the lost behelit in the process. The behelit granted Rorthak a channel to speak with an ancient entity which bestowed an unknown gift upon him with one request: keep killing. Shortly after, in the earlier hours of the morning on the steps of Woodspell manor, Aurelius Karth and Moreta Tillek declared Woodspell a free town. In the days that were to come a plan was hatched to dispose of the bodies of the Endells and Civil, Arch Andreius the blacksmith was appointed the position of Mayor of Woodspell and the first Woodspell Council was established with Vincent arriving to guide them in their early days. The party were celebrated for their actions and after a few days of revelry and reward set off home once more. The Stonepine and First Descent Arc After arriving home, the party came to the decision that their next destination would be Stonepine, a mountain city that was home to the Abyss, a colossal labyrinth of caves which extended miles underground, as the Stonepine sigil seemed to show up whenever otherworldly trouble were afoot. After journeying over the mountains the party arrived at Stonepine and proceeded to meet with the guard captain Abysswalker Mival and discuss a possible decent into the abyss in search of answers. The party was granted passage and after a days study spent in the Duke's Archives they entered the abyss. Deep in the abyss they found an old Gothic city built underneath a great lake known as the City of Tears (named after the eternal rainfall upon the place). After fighting off ghoulish entities the party holed up in a church where they encountered the deformed denizens of the city midway through a service. In an act of defiance Saendithias rang the church bell, attracting more ghouls to the location and proceeded to escape through an upper story window to hunt his prey. During his absence the party sat through the rest of the church's ritual until their live sacrifice was brought out. Tied to a cross resembling the earlier found behelit the druid Flunk was presented in front of the congregation, and Aurelius sprang into action and freed him. With the assistance of Flunk and the rest of the party Aurelius put an end to the congregation and set a fire inside the church to clear it of it's unholy machinations. Deeper still into the abyss the party came across a warped and deformed creature resembling an ancient dragon from the stories of old, this blighted fetal creature however was infested with rot and in a blind raged attacked the party. With the dragon dead the party returned to the City of Tears for answers and in an uncharacteristic fit of rage Aurelius cut down a citizen after he revealed the churches origin and practices. Using a nearby obelisk, the party escaped back to Stonepine where they now discuss their next course of action.